Infer, Don’t Assume

Why This Ritual Matters

Every reader brings invisible baggage to the page—beliefs, experiences, expectations that silently shape what they “understand.” Two people read the same paragraph and walk away with different conclusions, both certain they grasped the author’s meaning. Often, neither did. Both filled gaps with their own material rather than following where the text actually led.

This is the difference between inference and assumption, and mastering this distinction transforms reading comprehension. Inference is detective work: you gather clues the author left, connect them logically, and arrive at conclusions the text supports but doesn’t state directly. Assumption is projection: you complete the picture with your own beliefs, regardless of what the author intended.

The problem is that both processes feel identical from inside your head. A valid inference and a baseless assumption arrive as the same sensation: understanding. Developing inference skill means learning to trace your conclusions back to textual evidence—and being honest when you can’t.

Today’s Practice

Select a passage that contains implicit meaning—fiction works wonderfully, as does argumentative writing where conclusions follow from unstated premises. Read slowly, noting every conclusion that forms in your mind. Each time you think you understand something beyond what’s explicitly stated, pause.

Now interrogate that understanding. Ask yourself: “What specific words or phrases support this conclusion?” If you can point to textual evidence that logically leads to your interpretation, you’ve made an inference. If your conclusion relies on what “makes sense” or what you “naturally” assume, you’ve projected your own meaning onto the text.

Keep a simple two-column record: on one side, write your conclusion; on the other, write the textual evidence that supports it. Empty right columns reveal assumptions masquerading as comprehension.

How to Practice

1. Choose texts with subtext. Literary fiction, opinion essays, and arguments with unstated premises work best. Purely informational content often states everything explicitly, offering less practice distinguishing inference from assumption.
2. Read with a pen, not just eyes. Circle or underline passages that seem to imply something beyond their surface meaning. This physical act slows you down and forces awareness of when you’re drawing conclusions.
3. State your conclusions explicitly. After finishing a section, write down what you believe the author means, implies, or wants you to understand—even things that seem obvious. Making implicit understanding explicit reveals its basis.
4. Demand evidence from yourself. For each conclusion, find the textual basis. Quote specific words. If you find yourself saying “it’s implied by the overall tone” without being able to identify which words create that tone, dig deeper—or acknowledge the assumption.
5. Test with an alternative. For each inference, ask: “Could someone reasonably read this same passage and reach a different conclusion?” If yes, identify what in the text supports your version over theirs.

What to Notice

Pay attention to the speed of your conclusions. Assumptions typically arrive faster than inferences because they bypass the work of textual verification. When understanding feels instant and effortless, that’s precisely when you should slow down and check its foundation.

Notice which topics trigger more assumptions. Subjects where you have strong prior beliefs—politics, relationships, your professional field—are assumption magnets. Your existing knowledge creates patterns that you project onto new texts before processing what they actually say.

Observe the discomfort of genuine uncertainty. When you refuse to assume and the text doesn’t provide enough evidence for inference, you’re left not knowing. This uncomfortable gap is intellectually honest—and reveals how often we fill it unconsciously with assumptions.

The Science Behind It

Cognitive psychology distinguishes between “text-based” inferences (derived from explicit information in the text) and “knowledge-based” inferences (derived from prior knowledge). Both are natural and necessary—but problems arise when knowledge-based processing substitutes for textual engagement rather than supplementing it.

Research on reading comprehension shows that skilled readers constantly generate inferences, but they also continuously check these inferences against incoming text information. Poor readers make fewer inferences overall, or make them without verification, treating early assumptions as facts that shape all subsequent understanding.

Studies of standardized test performance reveal that the most common errors involve “plausible but unsupported” answer choices—options that readers choose because they seem reasonable given their assumptions, rather than because the passage actually supports them. Training inference discipline directly reduces these errors.

Connection to Your Reading Journey

Inference skill stands at the heart of competitive exam reading comprehension. CAT, GRE, and GMAT questions explicitly test your ability to distinguish what a passage says from what it implies from what you might assume. Wrong answer choices are carefully designed to trap readers who project rather than infer—who choose options that seem plausible rather than ones the text supports.

Beyond exams, this discipline transforms all reading. Conversations, emails, legal documents, news articles—every text contains gaps that readers fill, consciously or not. Developing awareness of this process means understanding not just what you read, but how you read it. You become able to question your own comprehension, distinguishing genuine understanding from the comfortable illusion of understanding.